SARUS SCAPE

Crab cannibalism

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 04:14:00 +0000

There's simply no hiding it - crabs are among my favourite foods. And of course, I am not alone. Kingfishers, storks, cranes, otters, and a number of wild species eat crabs regularly.

As some of us observed, apparently crabs are fond of crabs too. In this blog I showcase an observation made in the peaceful sacred grove of Kukdeshwar in Udaipur district. With a perennial stream that is protected thanks to the local deity, this spot in the Aravalli mountains is verdant even in the summer heat. Our friend, Dr. Anil Sarsavan - an extraordinary naturalist - showed us the magic of the grove. The wet part was lush, and hopping and buzzing with life.

As we climbed on away from the stream, the dryness was stark, but the beauty of the dry trees alongside the evergreen ones alongside the bright blue sky dappled with clouds was breathtaking.

Ok, back to crabs and our observation. Freshwater crabs in Indian streams and rivers have been poorly studied and even their taxonomy is just being worked out. The large crabs in Udaipur's streams were kindly identified by the taxonomist Dr. Sameer Pati using the photographs I uploaded on the portal inaturalist.org. One of these chunky chaps is apparently the Brown Freshwater Crab Barytelphusa cunicularis. These are fairly common in streams, and venture out on brief sojourns onto the forest floor in search of food.

Their coloration makes them hard to see on the dry leaves in the dim forest light. A startled crab puts on an aggressive display - one that I am always content to watch from afar. Those pincers be stroooong!

The ones in the stream are difficult to spot as well, being similarly coloured as the sand-and-stone of the Aravalli mountains. A hub-bub in one stream caught our eye one morning, and we saw two large crabs feuding. One chap moved faster and had the other chap in his claw moving so rapidly that we barely realized it had happened. Claw crunched through crab-shell in a jiffy. It vanquished literally crumpled.

The victor dragged the unmoving crab to beside a large rock and began feeding. The flowing waters of the stream turned slightly milky - ostensibly from liquids inside the crab being eaten. The "blood" was whitish? The harvested blue blood of the marine horseshoe crabs is famous, but I had no idea that the primary colour of the innard-fluid of a freshwater crab was white.

The victor then crushed the shell completely, and a bright white fluid gushed out colouring the clear, flowing stream. Other crabs did not appear to be attracted to the flowing white stuff, and the meal was had in peace.

We watched mesmerized as claws reached into the broken shell and pulled out succulent white flesh to chew as white fluid continued to pour out and quickly washed away. As the meat was consumed, it took only a few seconds for the water to become clear again leaving no trace of the violence that had just occurred.

There is a considerable amount of research on cannibalism among freshwater crabs, but these studies focus on adult crabs eating freshly hatched or slightly grown young crabs. Given the aquaculture importance of some freshwater crab species, cannibalism is a serious matter for farmers of these species.

Not surprisingly, there appears to be rather little written about cannibalism of adult wild freshwater crabs. In one experimental study, larger freshwater crabs preferred to cannibalize much smaller crabs, males were more cannibalistic than females, and cannibalism disappeared when alternative foods were offered. Crab species have been observed to increase cannibalism during molting when molting crabs display a high degree of agitation making it easy to spot. Aquaculture farmers appear to be familiar with this behavior and routinely provide refuges to reduce cannibalism. Had we observed a molting Barytelphusa cunicularis being cannibalized?

I wonder also if much of the cannibalistic action takes place in the shelter of darkness during the night making it appear that this is rare. Maybe the younger, smaller crabs are just too agile for the biggies to catch, and seem to be able to escape by running away on rocks. Lots of questions, and far too few answers. The way it will always be!

(Photographs taken 30 April 2023. Thanks muchly to Dr. Anil Sarsavan for showing Swati and I the lovely Kukdeshwar sacred grove in Udaipur district.)

Beetles with spines

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Sat, 01 Jun 2024 07:20:00 +0000

The diversity of form and shapes of beetles are perhaps unparalleled in the animal kingdom. There was clearly an inordinate need for this variety, and I am growing rather fond of discovering more of these. This blog shows a few that I found in the Vaccine Depot Ground of Belgaum city.

The Vaccine Depot Ground in Belgaum city, south India seems like just another green urban space, but a closer look helps reveal it to be a magnificent remnant old forest. The human touch, however, is everywhere - buildings, rows of one tree species, a block filled with an exotic tree, invaluable open grasslands being destroyed by feel-goody tree plantings, and of course a growing network of paved paths. For the burgeoning Belgaum city, the depot's greenness provides critical functions of being both a vital lung and giving people a peaceful natural experience during their morning walks.

A large manner of wild species use the depot and one group that has caught my attention is rather wacky. These are beetles with spines. Not vertebrae, of course, but actual sharp, long, curved and varied spines. Entomologists know of these and plenty has been written about their taxonomy, role in ecology, and so on. Quite a few different kinds of spiny beetles occur, and here are a few from Vaccine Depot. Here, I share my amazement at the crazy-coolness of a few beetles I found at the Vaccine Depot Ground.

The first one I saw was a weevil, Hoplapoderus gemmatus, that was tiny but packed a punch in appearance. This species belongs to a group broadly named as the leaf-rolling beetles, or Attelabidae. Seen from above, the beetle is good looking already sporting an exotic gold-and-black appearance.

The spines, however, pop when this fella is viewed slightly from the side. Spines of this beetle are somewhat gentle, as if included as an afterthought. And they add, I thought, quite a surprising attractive complexity to the look.

A much tinier, but far spinier, beetle I saw was Hispa ramosa. This chap was about as thick as a grass blade and looked more like a tiny caterpillar thanks to the densely covered spines. Hispa belongs to a group of beetles called "leaf beetles" - a group that has quite a few species whose larvae feed on leaves of both wild plants and on domestic crops.

The bizarreness and fabulousness of the spikiness went up a few notches with two Tortoise and Hispine Beetles. One that I have not yet been able to identify to genus or species level is this gorgeous chap sporting a row of two-pronged gold-and-black spikes on its thorax. These were completely overshadowed by the forest of black curved spines on its wings! Look closely and you can see a row of golden spikes jutting out from its sides.

Hate it or love it, the chap is arresting. Add the velvety looking flat feet at the end of the yellow legs, and we have a certified looker in our hands.

Then came this astounding spined beetle that managed to beat our looker above - Platypria, another leaf beetle. It was by accident that I found this beetle. It was in the web of a social spider quite dead but affording a great opportunity to take photographs from all sides. Four species of this genus are known from India, and going by the photographs of all the species, I would venture to guess that I had found P. echidna.

There were multi-colour spines everywhere on this beetle. And in all sorts of shapes. I assume that the generic name alludes to its overall shape somewhat resembling a Platypus. While the back had several simple spines, the sides were awash with spine diversity. Six-pronged ones, three-pronged ones, coloured ones, semi-transparent ones - you name it, he had it! Add the lush golden-yellow legs and I had meself an unbelievable beetle!

Spines and spikes on beetles have attracted some research attention, and are known to reduce predation. Not only are these spined beetles avoided by birds and frogs and lizards, but also by parasitic wasps. The spines clearly lost their use when caught in a web. It would have been really great to watch the spiders and see how they avoided all of those spines. Perhaps I will get lucky another time.

(Photographs were taken in the Vaccine Depot Grounds of Belgaum, Karnataka during May 2024.)

A predator becomes prey

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Sat, 01 Jun 2024 07:19:00 +0000

Spiders are deadly predators. They use a variety of methods to catch their prey. The ones sitting on their webs waiting for something to be caught in the sticky web are the most well known. This gigantic Nephila pilipes, or the Northern Golden Orb Weaver is one such sit-and-wait species that builds large webs. Other species and tiny males of the species are parasitic on the webs of the large females, eating up prey that the female bundles up in a web and stores for future feeding.

Also a sit-and-wait predator, this Hersilia, or the Two-tail Spider, dispenses with building a web. It is superbly well camouflaged on the bark of trees where it waits for prey sitting upside-down. As an insect or another prey wanders by, the spider spins a web around it by running round and round the prey until it is unable to move. The spider then, as seen in the photo below, moves in and bites the prey injecting it with a poison that incapacitates it. The poison also dissolves the innards of the prey allowing the spider to suck out the juices at leisure.

Then there are the wandering spiders that roam around looking for prey, like this handsome Plexippus paykulli, also called the Pantropical Jumping Spider - a species commonly seen in gardens and homes.

One sit-and-wait spider that is incredibly attractive is the group collectively called the Crab Spiders because of their overall appearance. These spiders come in a variety of colours matching flowers on which they sit awaiting insects that come for nectary and pollen. Several of these Crab Spiders lived on the Rangoon Creeper vine-gone-wild Swati and I grew in our tiny garden in Udaipur.

One evening, we noticed struggling movement on one of the buds. It was a black-and-white hoverfly that appeared to be floating in the bunch of flowers. Hoverflies are also called Flower Flies and adults feed on nectar and pollen of flowers. A ghostly form skulked behind the struggling fly. It was a lovely white-and-pink Crab Spider that had successfully caught itself a large meal.

The spider was surprisingly small given the size of the hoverfly it had grabbed and vanquished. The struggling of the fly died down and the spider proceeded to bite into its belly and began feeding. After several minutes, we watched the limp and empty body of the hoverfly drop from the flowers as the Crab Spider let go after having its fill. The spider then proceeded to clean itself before again positioning itself below a new flower.

We had barely begun admiring the Crab Spider's skills when there was a very rapid jumping movement towards the Crab Spider. Before it could move, it was in the jaws of a new predator that had been quietly roaming around, perhaps even watching the drama that had unfolded. The new predator was a species of jumping spider quite royally named Thyene imperialis.

Despite being smaller than the Crab Spider, the bite of the Thyene imperialis appeared to have an almost instant effect. The Crab Spider appeared to crumple and was taken around quite effortlessly by the new predator. Thyene positioned itself to get away from our prying eyes and even dangled the Crab Spider over leaves as it jumped away with its fresh food.

Thyene imperialis is reputed to be a very effective predator, even jumping into webs to grab spiders waiting for prey. The Crab Spider really had no chance once it had been spotted. Even the most well camouflaged and careful of predators can become prey in a trice.

The variety of spider species and behaviours is rather vast. I have no doubt that there will be other blog posts on these eight-legged wonders.

(Photographs' location and dates:

Nephila pinipes: 12 Jan 2024, Goa.

Hersilia: 15 May 2024, Vaccine Depot Grounds, Belgaum.

Plexippus paykulli: 08 September 2023, Tilakwadi, Belgaum.

Crab Spider and Thyene imperialis: 04 December 2022, Govardhan Vilas, Udaipur.)

Damselflies sometimes carry water mites

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Thu, 30 May 2024 08:06:00 +0000

Damselflies are less famous than their relatives, the dragonflies. They are far more delicate in appearance, much smaller, and mostly fold their wings when resting making it more difficult to spot them.

Like dragonflies, the damselflies are mostly found near water (rivers, ponds, lakes), but some species are also found readily in gardens - especially gardens that have unkempt lawns with abundant grass.

Swati and I kept such an unkempt garden in our Udaipur home and were often visited by the Three-striped Blue Dart, Pseudagrion decorum, damselfly. One of these individuals carried a load on its side!

On the side of the thorax was a dark clump - a group of water mites. When viewed from above, it became obvious that this particular damselfly was a mite-favourite. There were quite a few mites on both sies of the thorax.

The additional load did not appear to impact the damselfly in any obvious way. It flitted about catching mosquitoes and other small insects. A week later, a damselfly in the garden (the same one as before?) also had water mites, but only a couple of them. The mites had apparently jumped off and may have used the damselfly to disperse. This method of dispersal where one species uses another is termed "phoresy". Fewer mites or not, the damselfly was busy chomping all the mosquitoes it could catch!

Between 2017 and 2023, we saw only three damselflies in our garden with mites, out of several dozen observations of damselflies. The third damselfly was also seen within a week of the other two - all in October 2022. The rains had been unusually worse for a month that is normally a post-monsoon month with very little rain. Were the mites a consequence of increased rains?

Like with most wildlife species, there is little ecological work conducted on damselflies in India. However, there is considerable work conducted elsewhere on water mites and damselflies, and these provide some interesting findings.

Mark Forbes and Robert Baker found that smaller and lighter damselflies carried many more mites. It may be that weaker individuals were more susceptible.
Leung and others found that mites latched on to damselflies closer to emergence - they were clearly watching and waiting!
Andres and Cordero's cool study found that while mites did not affect damselfly survival, heavily-parasitized male damselflies mated much less than damselflies with fewer mites.
Nagei and others noticed that the water mites were sort of good at escaping when their damselfly hosts were being eaten by dragonflies. Semi-engorged mites were all eaten up - clearly too busy feeding themselves. However, half of the fully engorged mites managed to drop off in time to escape being eaten. The little chaps were clearly great at survival, but only after they had had their fill!

It was fairly yucky to view the parasitic mites close up. But the research work being done on them showed the mite-damselfly interactions to be rather cool. Now we are wondering how many damselfly species in India carry water mites, and why 2022 was such a good year for the mites in Udaipur.

(All photographs were taken between 11 and 22 October 2022 in Arihant Greens, Uddaipur.)

Ground orchids: Discovering the Nervillia aragoan (or concolor)

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Mon, 20 May 2024 05:10:00 +0000

Among the most memorable times in Udaipur for Swati and I were the weekend trips we undertook with Dr. Anil and Dr. Satish Sharma. These trips covered protected forests, grasslands, sacred groves, streams within the Aravalli valleys, and community conserved areas.

A perk of such trips was the deep knowledge both individuals had of the plants of the region. One of these trips was exclusively to see if the Tall Shield Orchid Nervillia aragoan had flowered.

The Aravalli mountains are a tough sell for most plants, let alone tubers that need some soil. Most areas have shallow soils, but this is adequate for the ground orchid Dr. Satish wanted to show us. It had been drizzling on and off for a few days, and conditions, we were told, were perfect for the orchid to emerge.

After a long drive from Udaipur city, we stopped beside a grove of trees. Dr. Satish led us to the shade of of these tall trees where he knew these orchids lay buried. As we approached the slope, his face burst into a beaming smile. The orchid flowers were bobbing in the gentle breeze that had caught up with us.

Green flowers were not what I was expecting, but the grace and delicacy the colouration brought to the orchids were nothing short of spectacular. The stems were short and held half a dozen or so flowers each. From the front, the "orchid" nature of the flowers became obvious.

The tinge of purple around the rim was magnificent. Some bees roamed around the flowers, but we could not see any obvious ones that were pollinators of these flowers during our short stay.

However, the pollinators had been doing their job. Green fruits and riper fruits hung on some of the stalks telling of orchids that had flowered earlier than our visit.

Like in many ground orchids, the leaves of Nervillia aragoana emerge after the fruiting is complete. Each flowering stalk is followed by a single folded-up leaf. Several of these neat structures poked through the ground all around us. Leaves were unfolding and were in various states, including the neat fully opened single leaves. I would not have known that this was an orchid!

You can read more about this species on the wikipedia article which has included the excellent botanical sketches of the flowers and leaves.

(All photographs were taken on 24 June 2023.)

Ground orchids: Meet the Corduroy Orchid Eulophia nuda

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Sun, 19 May 2024 08:26:00 +0000

The monsoons bring a lot out of the landscape, including the seasonal ground orchids. This group have underground tubers and throw out an inflorescence in response to the rains. In Belgaum city (yea yea, Belagavi!), I met the Corduroy Orchid. These orchids are proliferating in the large green spaces of the city - a reminder of them being remnants of the western ghats forests that are not too far from the city.

As if its overall look was not enough, the flowers have a lot of detail especially on the petal - the coloured lip as it were. This detail was perhaps the inspiration behind its common name - corduroy.

The variety of colours of this orchid stumped me - all risen beside each other. Check out this glorious one below we called "purple" for lack of better eye-sight. The corduroy pattern on this one was easily visible.

The other colour flowering was "pink".

The white inflorescence had the oldest flowers, at the bottom of the stalk, turning yellow. Was this perhaps a signal to insects that the flower had been pollinated?

The difference in colouration was stark - it had to be a signal to someone, or something. See the yellow below, followed by the white photographed from the same stalk.

This post has been put up in the early days of the monsoon (May 2024), and I could not wait for the fruits to form. Those will come soon. Also, in this species, the leaves emerge briefly after the flowering and fruiting is done. That too, fingers crossed, will be posted soon!

(All photographs taken in May 2024)

Waterbird foods: Lesser Adjutant

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 03:04:00 +0000

Surprisingly little is known of many species of large waterbirds such as storks, ibis and spoonbills. The Lesser Adjutant is one such species. Until recently, it was thought to require tall trees in forests to nests. However, surveys in the lowlands of eastern and central Nepal during 2013-15 have found that practically all of the nesting in some of the rice-growing districts are on trees amid fields. Clearly, a lot is needed to be done in the field to understand this species better. Here is my bit.

With my colleagues, I observed Lesser Adjutants for many an hour in central lowland Nepal in the districts of Rupandehi and Kapilvastu. I restrict this blog post to some of the observations we had of the species feeding in the rice paddies.

As has been seen in eastern Nepal, and in Sri Lanka, Lesser Adjutants in Nepal frequent rice paddies during the monsoon. They steer clear of traffic on the roads, and keep at least 20-30 feet from farmers working on the fields.

One morning, we observed three stork feeding together - all three were exceedingly successful in finding earthworms in the flooded rice fields! We watched as each of them found and devoured 5-7 earthworms in just five minutes! The photo below shows one earthworm meeting its end between the massive beak of a Lesser Adjutant.

Another individual seemed an expert at finding insects in the rice fields. In the photo below, a Belastomatid (giant water bug) is swallowed with gusto.

Another individual, shown below, caught and devoured a freshwater crab that seemed too tiny to be of consequence, but clearly kept the stork's attention as it maneuvered the animal into its mouth.

With almost no time wasted the same stork also caught a fish, which nearly escaped. But,down the hatch it went!

Other colleagues and students have seen Lesser Adjutants in Nepal bring snakes to feed chicks at nests. Now, that must have been a treat for all!

(All photos from Rupandehi and Kapilvastu districts in lowland Nepal, Aug 2014.)

Bill Fence

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 13:09:00 +0000

Bird behaviour is fascinating to observe. It is no less fascinating to read about. Particularly since several behaviours have been given catchy names - some really spot-on.

Bill Fencing is one such phrase used for a behaviour that many storks exhibit. As the name suggests, they fence with their bills!

Fencing can start pretty small - appearing to be a friendly, even affectionate, touching and clicking of bills. Like the two Painted Storks below.

Quickly, it can escalate to an obvious joust that is not so friendly!

The point of bill fencing appears to be to grab hold of the beak of the opposition.

And then, if food or a prized foraging patch is involved, it can escalate to a full-on fight! Use of wings, beaks and even legs seem fair game. A stork below appears to be karate-chopping the other lunging stork!

Until the beak of the opponent is finally in hand. Or rather, in bill!

Then, the "vanquished" opponent either walks away, or, if feeling particularly adventurous, tries to disengage, and another bout of bill fencing ensues until the beak is in hand (or bill) again.

One bird, clearly tired of the forced bill-shutting (and perhaps finally alarmed at the dangerous jabs of the long bill so close to the face!), eventually flies away. And the winner, after some work, keeps the spoils!!

Better this I say than jabs to the body, bleeding wings, and gouged eyes. Maybe these happen too...

(All photos taken in 2015 from various locations in western Uttar Pradesh.)

Wheat fields, flooding, snakes and storks

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 05:30:00 +0000

The setting of winter in the northern Indian landscape signals a major change in the crops. After harvesting the rice, farmers plant mustard and wheat. Unlike the rice, that requires to be flooded, wheat needs the soil to be just wet. Farmers achieve this by flooding the fields intermittently. This sets off an unanticipated set of events. Mice and snakes in burrows recently dried out are forced out again and again.

Large waterbirds in Uttar Pradesh seem to have figured this circumstance out - to their benefit. In this set of photographs, I share our observations of a Woolly-necked Stork successfully dispatching a keelback.

We missed seeing how the stork actually caught the snake, but the photo below shows the bird with the struggling snake, shaking it violently. As we watched, the snake became visibly weaker and nearly stopped attempting to escape altogether.

A Woolly-necked Stork with its catch of the morning - a keelback - in a wheat field.

The stork picked up the weakly struggling snake, carried it over to a drier spot near the dike and began beating the head with its beak. The photo below shows the snake - that is hopefully dead by now - with its bloodied head.

The bloodied and hopefully dead keelback awaiting the swallow.

Storks swallow snakes headfirst, and whole. This is easier said than done when the snake is a mite bigger than the usual small prey items that storks swallow. The photos below, that took well over a couple of minutes, show the difficult process.

Head-first is how storks like to swallow snakes.

The biggish keelback presented a bit of a problem to the Woolly-necked Stork, but it managed.

In the keelback went, and the serious swallowing began!

After a few minutes, many many swallows later, the snake completely disappeared visible only as a bulge in the stork's neck (above).

Though a snake being swallowed by a stork is pretty commonplace, given that snakes are commonly taken prey by these birds, what we watched represented much more. Human habits (planting wheat and intermittently flooding them), animals attracted by crops (rats in burrows, that in turn attracted snakes), and other wild species (here, a Woolly-necked Stork) all came together to make for a memorable viewing.

(Photos information: Taken in Etawah district, Uttar Pradesh; taken on 5 Jan 2013.)

Out on a limp, as it were...

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 14:45:00 +0000

Injuries and physical deformities are commonplace in nature. Not all of these result in the death of the injured. Here are two somewhat unusual and amazing stories of injured birds.

This Black-winged Stilt, posing like it is stretching its legs, had an injured foot. Two toes appeared completely broken off, and at least one more was broken. The Stilt foraged like this in the flooded fallow fields for hours hopping around on one leg. It appeared to be avoiding getting the injured foot wet. After a couple of hours, the bird hopped over to a dry spot and relaxed its injured leg, before hopping back in the field to forage again. When a dog appeared, the bird took off completely normally and landed in another flooded area. Talk about taking things into ones stride!

Among a flock of Little Stints, a tiny wading bird that migrates across most of Asia to winter in India, there was one with only one leg (in the left bottom corner). The bird hopped around foraging in the wet soils almost as fast as stints with both legs. This long-distance migrant seemed to be faring well with just one leg. Are two legs in fact better than one?

(Photo information: Black-winged Stilt taken in Aligarh district, May 09, 2010; Little Stint taken in Haryana, Feb 27, 2010.)

Top soil makes bricks

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 18:33:00 +0000

Top-soil in farmlands are coveted items. It takes a very long time for top-soil to form, and is almost entirely responsible for providing the foods humans eat across the globe.

Strange as it may sound, top-soil is increasingly being sold across relatively vast areas in north India by farmers to maker of bricks.

Tall chimneys scattered across the landscape give away locations of the kilns that are fueled by fire wood, also taken from the immediate surroundings.

A new chimney is being constructed and marks the location of a new
brick kiln in Barabanki district.

The removal of top soil leaves behind brown scars, and also walls of mud.

Barren grounds in Etah are used to dry tobacco leaves after
the top-soil has been sold to make bricks.

While the effect of such removal on agricultural productivity remains unknown, the walls certainly have great utility for wildlife. Foxes use them to den, and bee-eaters and bank mynas use them to nest.

Bank Mynas make their condominiums in a sheer wall created
by removal of top soil for making bricks in Mathura.

Strange and unpredictable are the ways in which "new" habitat becomes available for wildlife in this human-dominated landscape!

(Photograph information: Chimney in Barabanki district photographed 20 Nov 2008; barren ares in Etah district photographed 14 May 2010; nesting Bank Mynas in Mathura district photographed 25 Mar 2009.)

The mad courtship of the Cotton Pygymy-goose

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Mon, 03 May 2010 06:39:00 +0000

The Cotton Pygmy-goose is India's smallest Anatid (a group of birds comprising ducks and geese). The males are incredibly pretty, and the females are drab - characteristic of Anatids. One cloudy early morning, I chanced upon several small flocks spread out on a large lake. They appeared to be engaged in courtship. In this entry, I share my observation and attempts to photograph their mad yet delightful behaviour.

Each female - apparently unpaired as yet - was chased by 2-4 loudly honking males across the lake. Females appeared to be attempting to escape the loud and boisterous masculine efforts. But they kept up with her as she weaved around the lake. Above, the female is being pursued by four gorgeous males.

The female landed several times, perhaps tired, perhaps attempting to dissuade the males from further pursuit.

The female attempted also to take off again several times, and her troubles only grew as a result. All the males, honking their protest, gave chase.

They tried to ward her off, and females seldom managed to fly free again after the first landing.

The nearest male then physically dunked her back onto the water! Above, the female is on the extreme left hidden by the male who is pecking at her to force her to land on the water again.

The female then was in real danger of being drowned as the enthusiastic males rushed at her, frequently landing on top of her. The female was under water many times, as the males splashed around vying for her to choose them. The water churned madly as the males appeared to be nearly killing the female they were fighting to get.

Then suddenly and quite mysteriously, a partner had been chosen. He swam around her in slow circles with head bent forwards in a graceful bow, and the other males swam away honking their obvious disapproval.

Was this going to be her partner for the year? What was better about him compared to the other males who appeared as robust, noisy and interested? Another bird mystery that awaits study.

(All photographs taken on 02 May 2010 at Samaspur Bird Sanctuary, Rae Bareli.)

De clay is good

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 07:31:00 +0000

Clay is sticky, holds water for long periods, and accumulates in wetlands each year. Clay also breaks up into dry blocks in the summer making it easy to collect!

Wetlands in the Gangetic flood plains have a lot of silt and clay in the water that are continually churning due to water flows and human activity. The finer silt settles down, and on top of it the coarser clay is layered. This can "kill" the wetlands - making them easier to convert to croplands, filling up the depression, and holding up moisture that would otherwise have likely percolated to the ground water store.

The ancient practice of removing clay during summer in Uttar Pradesh by the people keeps wetlands from dying. Block by pain-staking block of dried clay is broken off, and ferried by hand to the road where a bicycle awaits.

Entire villages stockpile the useful clay. They are used to repair damaged walls of mud-huts, fill up leaks or as a natural cement for brick-houses, to make clay-bricks, or to make dykes of flooded paddy fields. Villages therefore benefit from maintaining village ponds, and collecting clay is often a community activity. The following year(s), the process of soil accumulation begins all over again in a now-deepened wetland. Unwittingly, natural habitat for a variety of birds and flora is maintained.

Newer "technology" has allowed many people to build houses that do not need annual maintenance. In such areas, village ponds like the one above likely require the clay to be removed, but is not paid attention to. The landscape ends up losing precious wetland habitat, and the people lose opportunities to work together.

(Thanks to Shyamal for a lesson in Soil 101. All photographs taken on 30 Apr 2010 at Rae Bareli.)

Post-script: Illegal usurping of community wetlands can lead to unfortunate disputes - for a recent story on a shoot-out due to clay removal, read this.

Mud puddlers

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 09:17:00 +0000

Wet mud and butterflies - the two do go together.

Two-spot Grass Yellows bustle on wet mud

Male butterflies drink up moisture retaining only nutrients that are dissolved, and quickly get rid of the water that would otherwise weigh them down.

Common Mormons (background) and Common Gulls (foreground) puddle together

The nutrients are passed on to females during mating, and improve the chances of the eggs surviving.

Common Lime butterfly gets its share of nutrients

Nutrients are also obtained from over-ripe fruit, sap, dung, and rarely, even blood.

(All photographs were taken on 18 Apr 2010 at Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh.)

Getting an earful

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:17:00 +0000

Bank Mynas and water buffaloes hit it off just great. The buffaloes have plenty of treats walking around on them for Mynas to actually be territorial on the buffaloes' back.

But the real battles are fought at the ears, for the ears, and going by how the buffaloes endure the vociferous battles taking place at their ear, it must be good for the ears.

(Photograph details: Mynas on buffaloes - shot at Basai wetland in Haryana on 6 Sep 2008; the vocal battle for the ear - shot at Etawah on 12 Feb 2009.)

Debugging with ash

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:14:00 +0000

A woman in central Pratapgarh district throws handfuls of ash from the kitchen stove on ripening rice. Many farmers in Uttar Pradesh still limit the use of chemical pesticides, or continue using traditional materials, like ash, alongside chemical pesticides to control insect pests on rice. A Zitting Cisticola sat undeterred (not visible here), presumably near its nest, as a cloud of ash fell on and around it - now that would have been an excellent photo to get!

(Photograph details: 23 Sep 2008; Pratapgarh district.)

A leucistic lapwing

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:59:00 +0000

Albinism - reduction in the melanin content (black colouration) causing whiteness - is a well-known condition in many animals. However, leucism - a reduction in all types of pigments, not just melanin - is probably more widespread and often confused to be albinism. Here, a Red-wattled lapwing, normally textured brown-grey on the wings (see previous post), displays leucism. The black on the neck and face, and on the flight feathers, are normal - this is not a condition of albinism for sure!

(Photograph details: 9 Dec 2008; taken in Rae Bareli district.)

Of Owlets and Owlings

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 03:04:00 +0000

The young of an owl is an owling, while the owlets are a group of small owls. Uttar Pradesh's non-forested areas still retain several species of owls and owlets who appear to breed quite nicely as evidenced by the regular sightings of owlings. Here are two species that I was able to photograph.

Jungle Owlets may not be very appropriately named since they occur in a wide variety of habitats, many outside what may be considered a "jungle". This fellow was calling away on a Eucalyptus tree in the middle of a wheat-and-vegetable landscape.

The Spotted Owlet is perhaps India's most common and widespread owlet. The adult (top) is coming to terms with the early-morning lighting in the canopy of a Neem tree - the pupils of each eye are dilated differently. The owling of the Spotted Owlet (above) appears obviously teenager-ish, and is ready to begin hunting on its own at a few months of age. This particular one, however, was still depending on its parents to do the work.

(Photographs information: Jungle Owlet: 09 Dec 1998, in Rae Bareli district; Spotted Owlet: adult - 24 Jul 2009, in Sultanpur district, owling - 04 May 2009, Sultanpur district.)

Body language

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:05:00 +0000

Cranes have among the largest non-vocal communication repertoires in the animal kingdom. Body language is exceedingly important. Here are a few Sarusy gestures that other cranes would know the meaning of instantly.

Wing half-open, an exaggerated walk with legs raised higher than usual, this crane walks up very meaningfully to another Sarus that had landed uncomfortably close to an active nest. The interloper got the message rather quickly!

Crane employ a large number of threat postures increasingly aggressive in their meaning. This female (right extreme) gives a classic ruffle-threat combined with a bow to the pair adjacent to her territory while her partner engages them at closer quarters.

This rare bow-threat is carried out with elan and grace successfully dissuading a pair flying overhead from landing in this crane's territory.

Cranes' large body size and incredible physical prowess poses a great risk of physical injury should they need to joust physically each time a disagreement occurs. Non-vocal postures with specific meaning, like the three above, are a safer alternative for all concerned.

(Photographs information: Top: 10 Jul 2008, Mainpuri district; middle: 28 Nov 2008, Etawah district; bottom: 07 Sep 2009, Farrukhabad district.)

Wing-stretch

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:25:00 +0000

All birds stretch their wings to get the blood flowing and stretch tired muscles. When the world's tallest flying bird does it, the simple activity becomes a spectacular sight! The world is truly its oyster.

(Photo details: All photos taken on 07 Sep 2009 in Farrukhabad district.)

Morning with the Sarus

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:16:00 +0000

Walking around in the flooded rice paddies during the monsoon can be magical. The Sarus make it more so. Here are two photographs that underline this statement.

The rains ensure that there is plenty of wet, grassy wetlands to forage in. This Sarus was part of a flock of 45 that landed in this wetland and surrounded us for a fantastic few minutes.

Real estate is serious business in the bird world. On a cloudy and otherwise dull morning, a pair of Sarus landed a few feet ahead of us and proceeded to unison call (photo above), gesture threateningly and finally succeeded in chasing away another pair that had landed in their territory.

(Photographs were taken in Etah district on 28 Aug and 29 Aug 2009 respectively.)

Waterbird foods: Purple Moorhen

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 04:18:00 +0000

Purple Moorhens could not be more appropriately named - their gorgeous colours stand out for miles in any wetland. They like to forage for food in open wetlands with grassy vegetation. Above, you can see individuals that have pulled out grass stalks, are using their legs as a dining table, and eating the soft shoot of the grass. They are experts at pulling out these shoots without breaking the grass ensuring they get most of the soft, juicy shoots.

(Photograph information: These are not from Uttar Pradesh for a change, but from the famed Keoladeo National Park at Bharatpur (Rajasthan), which due to the resident pairs of Sarus Cranes still qualify for this blog! Both were taken on 07 Mar 2009. Thanks to Anoop for being a sterling host at KNP!)

Waterbird foods: Black-necked Stork

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:08:00 +0000

Despite their large size and declining population, Black-necked Storks have received relatively little scientific attention. The most prominent study is that carried out by Gopinathan Maheswaran in the managed lakes in Dudwa Tiger Reserve in northern Uttar Pradesh. The storks there were seen to eat fish as their major food.

The unmanaged wetlands amid agricultural fields in western Uttar Pradesh have the largest known population of this species. Here, observations show that fish is not likely their major food - frogs (and reptiles) are! The photographs above show (from top) newly fledged juveniles have already learnt to catch frogs, snails sometimes figure in the diet of juveniles, and large bull frogs make for a great meal and are literally beaten to death by adults before they are swallowed.

(Photo information: top: 21 Jan 2009, Etawah district; middle: 7 Apr 2009, Etawah district; bottom: 12 Apr 2009, Etawah district. I put together all the observations I had made over the years of food items that Black-necked Storks ate, and now have a note in the journal Forktail in case you are really interested.)

Waterbird foods: Asian Openbill and Little Heron

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 02:41:00 +0000

Wetlands offer a range of foods to birds, and the monsoon is a fantastic season to observe birds getting their goodies. In this entry, two species are shown doing what they do best.

Asian Openbills are super-specialized in their food habits - they almost exclusively eat the large snails associated with flooded rice paddies. It is believed that this stork species has increased in numbers and spread closely following the increase of rice cultivation in Asia. Above, you can see a stork getting hold of a nice-sized snail, prising open the snail's lid, and pulling out the meaty snail for a doubtlessly yummy early morning snack.

The Little Heron (variously also referred to as the Green Heron and Little Green Heron) is not common in the inland areas of northern India. A neat, compact little heron, this species is an expert fisherbird. Above, a heron catches and hangs on to a fish beside a rice field - good start for a breakfast that will no doubt include many more fishies.

(Photograph information: Asian OpenbillLs: 8 Aug 2009, Mainpuri district; Little Heron: 5 Aug 2009, Bhadohi district.)

Monsoon = rice + new birds + wetlands

noreply@blogger.com (Gopi Sundar) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:23:00 +0000

This year, 2009, the rains in the Gangetic flood plains are delayed as of July - the rains sort of began in mid-July, and have not really begun in earnest since. However, it has been adequate for most farmers to begin working on planting rice - farmers everywhere are ploughing fields (top) and fertilizing flooded fields in anticipation of regular rains later on.

With the rainy season, the plains witness the formation of wetlands, and the arrival of some species of birds that are absent here the rest of the year.

Three species of bitterns are found throughout Uttar Pradesh in the monsoon. This information was not known with certainty prior to this ongoing study. Above, a Cinnamon Bittern poses in the morning light beside a flooded rice field with few reeds growing on the edge. (I hope to post more on bitterns later on this blog.)

The stunning Paradise Flycatchers are supposed to be passing through Uttar Pradesh in the summer and monsoon season, though this is not known for certain and they may well breed here. Above, a male bird in full splendour calls out to a female in another tree in a roadside goose-berry orchard.

Finally, this Bronze-winged Jacana (remember the lily-trotters?) stands on lily leaves whose tubers were awaiting in dry mud for nearly 5 months to grow again.

(Photographs information: Farmer ploughing: Allahabad district, 24 Jul 2009; rice broadcasting: Allahabad district, 24 Jul 2009; Cinnamon Bittern: Jaunpur district, 31 Jul 2009; Paradise Flycather: Sultanpur district, 25 Jul 2009; Bronze-winged Jacana: Jaunpur district, 31 Jul 2009.)